Vacuum cleaners are now emerging onto the market which have a greater degree of steerability than has previously been the norm. In particular, upright vacuum cleaners which are supported and steered on ball-type rolling members are becoming available, as are cylinder vacuum cleaners which have cleaner heads having ball-type supports to improve maneuverability. In some of these arrangements, the act of steering the cleaner head so that it adopts a new direction of movement may cause the cleaner head to travel over the surface being cleaned in a lateral direction in comparison to the normal direction of travel. In these circumstances, the cleaner head can dig into the floor covering, particularly carpets, which increases the effort required successfully to carry out the steering manoeuvre.
This problem can be reduced by providing curved side edges on a cleaner head. GB 509,528 discloses a vacuum cleaner head which has smoothly rounded lower edges. However, all of the lower edges of the vacuum cleaner head are smoothly rounded which prevents the cleaner head from cleaning effectively at the edges of a room, for example, adjacent to a skirting board.